Longing for paradise: Expressionist paintings as a romantic response to civilisation?

The artists of the groups ‘Die Brücke’ and ‘Der Blaue Reiter’ were searching for a new visual language that would counteract the rapid social and technical processes of change. Born between 1870 and 1880, they grew up in a time that saw fundamental transformations in almost all areas of life: The introduction of electric light and the telephone in major German cities began in the 1880s, shortly after 1895 the first X-ray machines went into operation, in 1902 the first underground railway line was inaugurated in Berlin, the first German cinema opened in 1896, and from 1900 onwards, more and more automobiles could be seen on the streets alongside horse-drawn carriages.

In this era of progress, the Expressionists sought paradise, often depicted in the form of bathing and beach scenes. Otto Mueller’s ‘Five Yellow Nudes by the Water’ and Max Kaus’ ‘Bathers’ are examples of this illustrated harmony between man and nature.